Having Rose McGowan as young Cora was pretty great casting. There were times I actually thought they were doing CGI to somehow de-age Barbara Hershey to her younger days in the flashbacks with how much of a resemblance there was.

BTW, if you want twisted... How about if Rumple and Cora had sex and Regina is actually Rumple's daughter?

That would make Henrys adoptive Mother also his Aunt.

Of course I'm thinking the answer there is no since the agreement they signed clearly would give the firstborn if it was his to Rumple so wouldn't he then know it?

Zap2ItTV has some pages recapping the relationships of the characters, taking into account the possibility that Regina is Rumplestiltskin's daughter. The perils of open-ended serialization become very apparent. The website plays it perfectly straight, but the upshot is still a great deal of humor at the show's expense.

As for the likelihood of a heretofore unknown paternity for Regina? The distinct implication was that Cora reneged on consummating the deal. But when did Cora learn to appreciate the value of appearing to be someone else?

Metaphysically if you're a sap, if you don't have a heart, you can't love, if you can't love, then you can't make a baby, according to what it's easy to suspect are the physical laws of their world, because a baby is about intertwining love, not a random double blind sperm vs egg collision.

Kora can't have conceived a baby with Prince Henry if she didn't have a heart.

Have scientists ever stuck microphones inside a woman to listen to what that sounds like? Everyone talks about when life begins, is it the moment of conception or much later, yet no one has been curious enough to fathom if conception sounds like a small calibre weapon with a silencer being fired through jello or a bath fart.

(Remember the sound of non-coalesced people slamming into the closed iris of a Stargate?)

(Fuck me I'm romantic.)

Douglas Adams asserts that a bath fart should be called a Buddle in his novel the Meaning of Liff.

We'll be getting more Cora backstory. For one thing, Regina's Daddy we've seen before seems awfully short to match up with the long drink of water we saw last night.

More importantly, Cora somehow mislays a kingdom between this story and the time Regina saved Snow White from a runaway horse. You'd think there'd be a story in that.
Although, a one-liner about absentmindedness would be refreshingly brief?

The name matched. They did call him Prince Henry, but I have trouble reconciling that man and who we saw Regina's father to be. I suppose in the interim between Regina's birth and Daniel's death, Cora could have browbeat him into a very servile, scurrying creature. However, how did Cora + Prince Henry + Regina go from living in the castle to living on a country estate? Why would Cora accept a step down from the palace?

Would it not have been easier to just kill off the members of Regina's family ahead of her in the line of succession in "happy accidents" rather than manufacture Regina's marriage to Snow's father?

Why did Rumple not burn Cora into the ground? He has not shown himself to be very forgiving.

Regina clearly said that she was 5th in line to the throne, which means that Henry has a few older siblings... And that's if the throne doesn't sometimes move sideways like it did in Hamlet to the kings brother rather than the kings son.

Yeah, there's more to the Cora story that we haven't seen. How she didn't stay royalty? Also, how did Eva wind up a queen (just kept going kingdom to kingdom till someone took her in?)? Why is being tripped and embarrassed by an obnoxious teen grounds for later killing her unless Cora is truly simply evil - or is everything she did going to be based on/"justified" by being without her heart? Hopefully there's more to that story than just high school level rivalry. And that we learn how Eva grew from an obnoxious teen to a loving respectful queen to her people.

I did like that Prince Henry's father wasn't stupid - he recognized Cora instantly under the mask and knew about her relationship with Rumpel. He's far more interesting (so far) than the simple mustache-twirling King George baddie. And I liked that Henry seemed taken with Cora from the start.

But WOW, that Snow scene with Regina is the most evil thing I've seen on the show. There is NO going back from that for Snow... unless they turn back time and give her an alternate choice. This destroys Snow's purity forever. There's no forgiveness for tricking Regina into killing her own mother. And finally Regina will be legitimately justified in her hatred of Snow. And Cora, ironically, accomplishes what she set out to do - make Snow turn dark, even if it killed her to do it - there's more revenge on Eva.

But that moment where Cora realizes that had she allowed herself simply to love her daughter (and perhaps Rumpel?) it would have been enough for her, was heartbreaking.

Rose MCGOWAN was awesome in this - their double-casting of characters in this show has been insane.

I thought Robert & Rose had great chemistry too.

And the scene with Rumpel and Bae finally reconciling ("I'm still angry") was wonderful. Also how Emma has to uncomfortably be stuck in the room during that and Rumpel's speech to Belle was great.

Eh...Snow is not as pure as the driven anymore. But, I understand what she did. I don't think she should have, but...

Cora killed Snow's mother.
Regina killed her father.
Both women were out to get Emma and keep Snow's grandson.

I found that this episode interesting but it made both Regina and Cora seem more one dimensional. I totally understood Cora's fury over being spat on because of birth, but her unbridled spite was chilling. (As for Regina's key motivation, I never understood blaming a child for not keeping a secret. Snow was not malicious.) I hope they find a way to move Regina past vengence mode. You know it is bad when Rumple looks at you and tells you to give it up.

I really enjoyed the episode. I hope that more Cora flashbacks are forthcoming. I want to know what happened during Regina's childhood. I hope that more backstory will explain Regina and Cora better and keep them from being too one dimensional.

Henry seemed like a good dad. Regina seemed to fear her mother and crave her approval more than love her.

Surely Rumple continued to instruct Cora, or did she possess an inner ability that only needed to be tapped?

Surely those that can wield magic must be predisposed or why can't the dwarves and Charming fling people around with a flick of the wrist?

Given that Cora and Regina had designs on dominating and perhaps killing everyone in Storybrooke, Snow's actions could be viewed as self-defense. She certainly manipulated Regina into completing the scheme, but Regina's shown to be a deeply untrustworthy ally no matter what side she's on, so Snow was right to take the opportunity when she had it.

It's another thing to actively manipulate someone else into killing that someone for you.

And when you actively manipulate a woman who's desired her Mother's love her entire life... by pretending you understand that unrequited desire, that you sympathize with that desire, and then you hand Regina NOT the key to her life long heart ache but the key to Cora's and therefore Regina's destruction... then that's not just wrong, it's evil.

As we saw last night... giving Cora back her heart taught her in 15 seconds that loving/being loved by her daughter "was enough"... then just giving Regina an uncursed heart would have saved Snow's family. Sure, Rumple would have died... (maybe), but everyone else would have lived WITHOUT the sin of murder on their hands.

I'm sorry... but Snow crossed all sorts of boundaries for me last night, and from now on she DESERVES whatever REGINA dishes out to her.

I wonder if Henry is too young to understand the full extent of the evil his grandmother did to his foster mother, "last night".